The Charity Commission is consulting on whether to add additional questions to the T3010. They are suggesting some of the answers will be published and some will not be.
In Canada, we have a T3010 that has not changed much over the last decades except that certain questions have been removed such as those that deal with political activities. The world has changed a lot in the last decade and the failure to have a more robust form of T3010 has predictable results – there is only minimal public information available from all charities. It is not surprising that public trust in the charity sector has plummeted. Most of the professional advisors I hear seemed to be fixated on how to make the T3010 easier for charities to complete (a postcard-sized document perhaps!) but not on the stakeholders of the charity sector and their needs. Canada has fallen far behind the US and England and many other countries when it comes to transparency.
The more information that is available about charities will help many stakeholders including grantmakers, donors, media, regulators, academics, etc., to understand this very important part of our country.
Here is an interesting discussion paper on the T3010. Also, in my article, If the T3010 annual charity return improves perhaps the charity sector and transparency will also improve, I discuss some other questions that could be helpful.
Here are the questions the Charity Commission is looking at adding:
| Charity annual return questions 2023 | Do we plan to publish this data? |
|---|---|
| Section: Financial period | |
| You will be asked to confirm the charity’s financial period. If the financial period end dates displayed are incorrect, you can change them in the Change the charity financial period service. |
|
| Section: Income and spending | |
| You will be asked to enter the charity’s income and spending in the financial period for this annual return in the boxes provided. Please round all figures to the nearest pound (do not enter decimal points or commas). | Yes |
| Section: Income | |
| Was more than 70% of the charity’s income derived from one income stream in the financial period for this return? | No |
| Has the charity received a donation(s) exceeding 25% of total income from a single Corporate Donor(s) in the financial period for this return? | No |
| Has the charity received a donation(s) exceeding 25% of total income from an individual(s) in the financial period for this return? | No |
| Has the charity received a donation(s) exceeding 25% of total income from a single trust in the financial period for this return? | No |
| Has the charity received a donation(s) exceeding 25% of total income from a single connected party in the financial period for this return? | No |
| Section: Trustee payments | |
| For what were any of the trustees paid during the financial period for this return?
a. paid for being a trustee |
Yes |
| During the period covered by this annual return, did any of the trustees resign and take up employment with the charity? | No |
| In the financial period for this return, what percentage of total grants were made to:
a. Individuals Are any of the above connected parties to the charity? |
No |
| Section: Income from government contracts | |
| How many contracts (other than grant agreements) did your charity have from central government or a local authority? | Yes |
| If 1 or above, what was the total value of the contracts held from central government or a local authority? | Yes |
| Section: Income from government grants | |
| How many grants did your charity receive from central government or a local authority? | Yes |
| If 1 or above, what was the total value of the grants held from central government or a local authority? | Yes |
| Section: Income from outside the UK | |
| During the financial period for this annual return, did the charity receive income from outside of the UK? | No |
| If you answer ‘Yes’, you will be presented with a table of countries. Select countries the charity received income from or select ‘Unknown/don’t know if applicable’. Then answer the following questions. |
|
| How was overseas income received by the charity in the financial period for this return? (Tick all that apply)
a. bank transfer |
No |
| What is the value of income by country? For each country specify the source and amount of income from the options:
a. overseas governments or quasi government bodies; (including European Union or European Commission) |
|
| Section: Operating and spending outside England and Wales | |
| During the financial period for this annual return, did your charity operate outside England and Wales? | No |
| If you answer ‘Yes’, you will see a table of countries. Select the countries the charity delivered its charitable activities in (including via partners or third parties). Then answer the following questions |
|
| Record the total expenditure by Country | No |
| How much money did your charity send outside the UK regulated banking system in total (enter amount to nearest £)? | No |
| When sending money outside England and Wales, did your charity transfer money other than via bank to bank transfer? | No |
| If you answer ‘Yes’, you will be asked:
What methods to transfer money did the charity use and what was the value? (Tick all that apply) a. cash courier |
No |
| Does the charity have formal written agreements in place with its overseas partners? | No |
| Section: Service delivery – premises | |
| Does the charity use more than one address to deliver services or manage its operations? | Yes |
| If you answer ‘Yes’, you will be asked: Please enter the addresses |
Yes |
| Section: Property | |
| Were any of your charity’s properties held by holding or custodian trustees on behalf of your charity (excluding the Official Custodian) during the financial period for this return? | No |
| Section: Data protection and cyber security | |
| Are any of the charity’s websites hosted outside of the UK at the date of this return? | No |
| If you answer ‘Yes’, you will be asked: In what country are your websites hosted? |
No |
| Section: Structure and membership | |
| Is the charity a federated or regional member of another registered charity? | No |
| Is the charity affiliated to another registered charity (such as in a consortium)? | No |
| Is the charity a member of any professional or umbrella bodies? | No |
| Does your charity have people or organisations which act as members? | No |
| If you answer ‘Yes’, you will be asked: Do the charity’s members have rights under the charity’s Governing Document? |
No |
| Section: Subsidiaries | |
| Does the charity have any trading subsidiaries? | Yes |
| If you answer ‘Yes’, you will be asked: During the financial period of this return, have any of the charity’s trading subsidiaries dissolved? |
No |
| How many trustees are also Directors of the trading subsidiaries? | Yes |
| Section: Employees | |
| Enter the number of staff employed in total by your charity as at the end of the financial return period:
a. Overseas This should not include staff that were contracted by the charity to deliver services on behalf of the charity |
Yes |
| What was the total amount spent on payroll during the financial period relating to this return? | To be confirmed |
| During the financial period for this annual return, did any of your charity’s staff receive total employment benefits of £60,000 or more? | Yes |
| If you answer ‘Yes’, you will be asked:
Enter the number of staff for each of the following salary bands: |
Yes |
| What was the value of the total employee benefits (including salary) provided by the charity to its highest paid employee? | No |
| Section: Volunteers | |
| How many UK volunteers, excluding trustees, did your charity have during the financial period relating to this return? | Yes |
| Section: Financial controls | |
| During the financial period for this annual return, did your charity review its financial controls? | No |
| Section: Governance | |
| Which of the following policies and associated procedures does the charity currently have in place? You will also be asked to provide the date of last review for each.
a. bullying and harassment policy and procedures |
No |
| Section: Safeguarding | |
| Does the charity provide services to children and / or adults at risk? | No |
| Has the charity obtained DBS checks for those that are eligible in the financial period for this return? | No |
| Section: Serious incidents | |
| If gross income is more than £25,000 has the charity reported all Serious Incidents (including any historical incidents) that the charity became aware of during the financial period relating to this return? | No |
| Section: External impacts | |
| Have there been any events over the financial period for this return that have impacted the charity’s ability to operate effectively?
If you answer ‘Yes’, you will be asked: Please indicate the impact of the event by using the dropdown lists below: Estimated positive impact on or increases in: Estimated negative impact on or decreases in: |
No |
- NB: By the time of AR23 the law is expected to have changed to allow trustees to be paid for goods as well as services; there is currently no statutory power to pay trustees for goods. ↩